This invention relates to a syringe type column to be used for chromatography, and more particularly to a syringe type column having a novel structure, in which the uniformity in a stationary phase filled in a column may not be disturbed even after repeating operations of introducing a solvent for development thereto, so that the stationary phase filled in the column may not be disorganized or disturbed even after performing operations where high separating efficiency are required.
With recently required precision of chemical reactions, development of simple and convenient methods for purifying or separating a trace of a reaction product is becoming desideratum. As one of such methods, there has been contemplated a pressurized chromatography technique applied with a medium pressure in which a syringe is used as a column. In this method, a barrel of the syringe having a discharge port at the tip is first filled with a silica gel granule, an alumina granule or a cellulose fiber, to which a predetermined amount of a solution containing the reaction product to be separated is then introduced, and further a predetermined amount of a solvent for development. Subsequently, a plunger is inserted in the barrel to be pressed thereinto gradually to effect development and separation of a desired object, which is sampled from the discharge port of the barrel.
When high separating efficiency is tried to be obtained using this method, the following inconvenience occurs.
For the purification or separation of the reaction product, it is generally necessary to introduce the solvent for development repeatedly to the stationary phase while uniformly maintaining it in the filled state. However, in the above method, the plunger must be drawn out of the barrel every time the solvent for development is introduced into the barrel. When the plunger is drawn out of the barrel, an inner space of the barrel inevitably suffers a negative pressure, so that the air flows into the barrel through the discharge port at the tip thereof, and the filled state of the stationary phase is subject to turbulence due to the movement of the air flowing into the barrel to break down an equilibrium state formed therein.
It is an object of this invention to provide a syringe-type column having a structure in which the solvent for development can repeatedly be introduced into the column while the equilibrium state formed in the stationary phase is maintained and without causing the inconvenience as described above in said repeated introduction of the solvent for development.